MyFord Mobile has sparkly new maps!

[jmueller065]

Much like the rest of us, I'm guessing, I didn't use the maps feature in My Ford Mobile (because it was crap). Well you may want to look again. I don't know which update enhanced the map but wow it is much nicer now.

Nice enough for me to write a blog post about it LOL:
https://spareelectrons.wordpress.com/2015/10/25/myfordmobile-new-stuff/

 

[damania]

it's much smoother than even google maps on my android

 

[WattsUp]

Much like the rest of us, I'm guessing, I didn't use the maps feature in My Ford Mobile (because it was crap). Well you may want to look again. I don't know which update enhanced the map but wow it is much nicer now.

Nice enough for me to write a blog post about it LOL:
https://spareelectrons.wordpress.com/2015/10/25/myfordmobile-new-stuff/

Sure, the color-coding and smoother scrolling are nice, but did you notice that ALL charge locations, even the pre-set ones, are now grid-aligned when viewed on the mobile app? This "uber" grid alignment behavior is new (wasn't there before the "new" map appeared in the app) and now makes things even worse than before.

Previously, only saved locations ended up grid-aligned, but now all locations are, which means that the map icons for pre-set locations can exactly overlap and obscure the icons for other nearby pre-set locations and/or saved locations, or vice versa (with this occurring apparently at random depending on how the map redraws). Awesome.

This visual flaw is severe. When several nearby location icons exactly overlap, this can make it appear that there are fewer location in a vicinity than there actually are. Also, the overlapping can often make it impossible to select a particular icon to access further information. Brilliant.

Anyway, color-code me unimpressed. I am glad Ford is still working on the app, but this improvement is just plain dumb, and can be very misleading, and perhaps (well, may very likely) cause you to be unaware of all your available charging options, unless you are using another app like PlugShare. (But then why rely on Ford's?)

Interestingly, pre-set locations are not grid-aligned when viewed using the web page's charging location map. Only saved locations are grid-aligned on the website's map. (The web page still seems to be using the "old" map widget, which probably explains it.)

Here are some charging locations in an area near me as shown by the website's map. Seems to be 10 available locations there:


And here is the same area as shown by the mobile app's map. Hmm, now only 8 locations are obvious (the two "missing" locations are there, but are obscured by other icons positioned exactly on top of them, thanks to their shared grid-alignment):

(The blue starred icon happens to be one of my saved locations, which simply shows up as a green plug on the website's map.)

And here's a grid (that I added) laid over the mobile app's map to demonstrate the grid-alignment:

(Compare this with the version of the map from the website, the first image above.)

 

[jmueller065]

Sure, the color-coding and smoother scrolling are nice, but did you notice that ALL charge locations, even the pre-set ones, are now grid-aligned when viewed on the mobile app? This "uber" grid alignment behavior is new (wasn't there before the "new" map appeared in the app) and now makes things even worse than before.

LOL! I guess I was so distracted by the sparkly new maps that I didn't notice the gridding.

I did spend some time browsing through the local charge stations in my area and didn't notice any overlaps like your example. There are a few groups of stations by me that are very close together and they all showed individually.

I'm curious: On the map that you show where there are some overlapping, if you zoom into that location do they separate or do they stay on top of each other?
Edit:
When I zoom into your area above it doesn't look as grid aligned:

Note that in your image with the grid where they lie along a horizontal line there is some vertical spacing in my image.

Perhaps with the new maps they are also using a new source for charge station info which simply doesn't have as many in there (which also would make this less useful).

 

[WattsUp]

I'm curious: On the map that you show where there are some overlapping, if you zoom into that location do they separate or do they stay on top of each other?

Yes, they seem to be aligned to a grid, no matter how far I zoom in. All icons are at the same "vertical" level and never vary from it, even a little (as shown in your image).

When I zoom into your area above it doesn't look as grid aligned:

Yes, interesting. However, based on your image, your map looks like it might be "something different" than mine.

Which mobile app are you using -- Android or iOS?

I am using iOS. Perhaps that is yet another difference to take into account?

 

[jmueller065]

Yes, interesting. However, based on your image, your map looks like it might be "something different" than mine.

Which mobile app are you using -- Android or iOS?

I am using iOS. Perhaps that is yet another difference to take into account?

The images are from my Android phone. I was going to capture some from my iPad but the screen grabs were too large--I'll have to look closer now on the iPad to see if it shows a difference between my phone.